What does zo mean in medical terms?

zo

Meaning: animal, life

Type: Word root · Body system: Whole Body & General Terms

A word root is the core of a word; prefixes and suffixes attach around it. On this page: what zo means, and real medical words that use it, each broken down into its parts.

Example words using zo

zoology
zo (animal) + -logy (study of) = study of animals
zoonosis
zo (animal) + nos (disease) + -osis (condition) = a disease transmitted from animals to humans
zoonotic
zo (animal) + nos (disease) + -tic (pertaining to) = pertaining to a disease transmitted from animals to humans

Shortened forms

Charts and notes shorten long terms — see the Medical Abbreviations guide for the short forms you will meet in real records.

Please note: This section teaches the language of medicine — what word parts mean and how terms are built. It is an educational reference, not medical advice. For the meaning of a word in your own medical record, ask the clinician who wrote it.